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DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
DURHAM, N. C. 


Form 934—20M—1-35 


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JUNOLWIOJOUG 


A 


DISCOURSE, 


IN 


.. TWO PARTS, 


DELIVERED JULY 23, 1812, ON THE 


PUBLIC FAST, 


IN 


THE CHAPEL OF YALE COLLEGE. 


BY 
_ TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D. LL. D. 


q PRESIDENT OF THAT SEMINARY, 


Sao \ 
PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE STUDENTS, AND OTHERS, 


Second Edition. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY CUMMINGS AND HILLIARD NO. 4, CORNHILL. 
Andover.....Printed by Flagg & Gould. 
1813. 


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PART 1. migie's 


ae 


A DISCOURSE, &c. 


ISAIAH xxi. 11, 12. 


The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what : 
of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 

The Watchman said, The morning cometh ; and also the night. If 
ye will inquire, inquire ye ; return ; come. 


THIS passage of scripture is unconnected with any thing, which 
either precedes or follows it. The first clause is merely a title, or cap- 
tion, denoting the country concerning which the prediction is ubtelbes: : 
“ The burden of Dumah ;” or more properly, as it is rendered by Bishop 
Lowth, “ The oracle concerning Dumah.”” Dumah was the country of 
Idumza, or Edom; which was inhabited by Esau and his descendants. 
“ He calleth to me out of Seir.” Seir, as you know, was a mountain in 
that eountry; the place originally chesen by Esau for‘his residence ; 
whence his posterity spread over the neighbouring region. They were 
often at war with the people of Judah. Saul attacked them, and vex- 
ed them: 4 Sam. xiv. 47. David subdued them, and put garrisons in 
their fortresses; so that they became his tributaries: 2Sam. viii. 14. 
4 Chron. xviii. 12,13. In the days of Solomon, Hadad, one of the royal 
family, who had fied from the invasion of Joab into Egypt, returned, 
and re-established himself in the kingdom: whence, it would seem, he 
did'much mischief to the people of Israel. In the time of Jehoshaphat, 
they united with the Ammonites and the Moabites to invade the king- 
dom of Judah. But the Lord set ambushments against the children of 
Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah ; and 
they were smitten: for the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against 
the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them. And 
when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to 
destroy another. After this smgular event, the Edomites were effectu- 
ally broken down for a course of years. There \was then, we are ige 

_ formed, no king in Edom: a deputy was king. Inthe days of Jehoram, ® 
the son of Jehoshaphat, they revolted from under the hand of Judah, and 
made a king over themselves: and although Jehoram defeated them in 
battle, they still preserved their independence. Amaziah afterwards 
attacked them and destroyed 20,000 of their men. Still they continued 4. 
an independent people, till they were finally subdued by John Hyreannus, * 
according to the predietions of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Obadiah. They 
then submitted to be circumcised; and soon ceased to be a distinct people. 

Of this nation, one, in the name of the rest, calls to the ba toe Tsaiah 
from Mount Seir. Or perhaps the call is intended to be from the whole 

_. nation, personified agreeably to the manner of writing, which isso cus- 

tomary with the prophets of the Old Testament. That the eall is di- 

rected to Isaiah himself, there can be no doubt: because he asserts it in 


P63597 


4 


the most direct terms, “He calleth to wz.” The prophet is addressed 
under the figurative character of a watchman ; SS v 
pointed by God for the nations of the earth. As his pre 
successively uttered against many nations, and might be e 
elude many more, the Idumzans, who were kindred to th 
lived in their neighbourhood, are very naturally exhibited 
know, from this inspired minister of the true God, what we 
which were to befall themselves; and to learn i 
with the eye of Revelatioa, saw any danger appeeeeyae e] ‘his 
is the more natural, as he had just been predicting the ruin of all the 
neighbouring countries; of Egypt, of the country of the Philistines, 
Syria, Judeea, Moab, and Babylon. After these predictions, the people 
of Idumea could hardly fail of trembling, lest their own destiny should 
be next announced, or of anxiously inquiring of what nature it should be. 
The inquiry, so solicitously made by this voice from Mount Seir, is, 
“Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night 2” “'The 
night” here denotes, I apprehend, merely the period of time for which 
the watchman was set as an inspector of the passing events. In famil- 
iar language, it was the prophet’s watch, or season of watehing. This 
is the season concerning which they inquire; and the oceurrences 4 
which, so far as they respected themselves, they were desirous to » knoy r. 
The repetition of the inquiry shows, that they ask eagerly, and anxious- 
ly, because they are deeply alarmed by the miserable end of ‘ee 
rounding nations concerning the fate of their own. ME egg 
The answer of the prophet is, like the question, concise and figura- 
tive. “The Watchman said, the morning cometh; and also the night. 
If ye will inquire, inquire ye; returns come.” The morning, the ligh 
and the day are in the scriptures familiar figurative expressions to/de- 
note prosperity. Night and darkness are, with the same fami 
used to denote adversity. Such, I apprehend, is the use of these 
in the present case. ‘The prophet may therefore be conside Ly 
ing to the people of Seir, and to the Idumeeans generally, The ng 
cometh ; and also the night, i.e. 2 season of prosperity is immediately 
before you, and will be sueceeded by a season of adversity. The re- 
maining words of the answer may, I think, be naturally paraphrased 
in the following manner :—‘ If ye are really desirous to know your des- 
tiny, and to learn the things, which belong to your peace, come, and in- 
quire at the mouth of God. Return to him by returning to the religion 
from which you have departed, ever since the days of your first re 
Come again; and review your allegiance to God.’ 
Such, I apprehend, is the whole meaning of this very coneise, very 
figurative, and therefore very obscure, passage of scripture. gi Sila 
-A religious assembly, gathered in this land at the present moment, 
ean hardly be supposed to feel a spirit of indifference with res 
the existing state of the werld, hen particularly of their own eountry. 
At no time, sinee the deluge, has the situation of the human race been ~ 
se extraordinary ; the world so shaken; or its changes so numerous, 
sudden, extensive, and ominous. He, who is indifferent to these things, 
must be supposed to have neither heart, nor understanding, nor eyes, 
nor ears. In addition to all the other other solemn and ill-boding 
events of the/present period, to use the language of our ehief magis- 
trate, ‘the righteous Providence of God has permitted the nation to 
which we belong tobe engaged in an offensive war, the multiplied 


5 


evils of which must be felt by all, but its end cannot be discovered 
hy human agency.’ Our own cause, as well. as that of the rest of 
ankind, is now in agitation. Even if we have been able to behold 
with indifference the general convulsion of the world, and to see nation 
after nation blotted out from under heaven, it can scarcely be eredible, 
that the most stupid among us can fail of being serious, solemn, and 
solicitous, when our own ease is under trial, and when our allotments 
are now, perhaps, to be finally settled. .I well know, that there are 
thoughtless, giddy, empty minds, who, on the one hand, consider this 
event as a victory, and on the other as a defeat, of their own party, and 
extend their views no further. I also know, that there are men of pas- 
sion and violence, who feel satisfied with carrying, or mortified with 
failing to carry, a point; that their views and their horizon terminate 
here; and that even their wishes extend no further than to the gratifi- 
eation of their feelings. To persons of this description it is in vain to 
urge consequences ; although consequences, in almost all cases, involve 
whatever is important in each case; while the objects, at which they 
aim, have in themselves no importance at all. A sober man, especial- 
ly when possessing an enlightened mind, will expand his thoughts be- 
yond the present moment, and the passing event; and will look forward, 
an every solemn situation, with intense anxiety, to discern, as far as he 
may, the effects of those transactions, in which he is now interested ; 
and will regularly perceive, that that which is to come, frequently gives 
the deepest colouring to that which is present; and, whether desirable 
or undesirable, always enhances its import to mankind.’ Men of the 
former description, feel as if they had gained every thing, when they 
have eompassed the object of their present wishes; and are either in- 
different concerning what is to come, or take it for granted, that, when 
it comes, it will adapt itself to their inclinations. Men, of the latter 
deseription, consider that which is done, if consistent with the revealed 
will of God, as desirable only when the events, which it draws in its train 
are also desirable. The leading members of the ruling party in Great 
Britain, immediately before the American revolution, hugged themselves 
on their success in being able to foree through the Parliament their fa- 
vourite measures for humbling the Colonies. Chatham, with an il- 
lumined eye foresaw, and with a prophetic voice declared, the disas- 
trous consequences, which have since followed these darling measures. 
The period, in which we live, is, in my own belief, marked out in 
prophecy as a part of that which is included within the effusion of the 
seven vials. The fifth of these I consider as unquestionably poured out 
at the Reformation. According to this scheme, we are now under the 
sixth or the seventh. As several men of reputation, who have lately 
published treatises on the prophecies of Daniel and John, have espous- 
ed opinions widely different from this; my reasons for holding it may 
fairly be demanded. I will,therefore, state them in a summary manner: 
The fifth vial is exhibited to us in the following terms :—“And the 
fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast ; and his king- 
dom was full of darkness ; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and 
blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, 
bt ranted not of their deeds.” That the Reformation was an event, 
perfectly answering to this prophecy, will, 1 suppose, not be question- 
ed; as without violence it plainly cannot.—The seat of the beast is lit- 
erally his throne, and symbolically his power. Every one knows, that 


P63597 


a 


6 


this great providential dispeh anton was directed 
the power of the Romish hierarchy.—The Pont 
and extraordinary agents, his elergy univers 
ees, and the immense body ort under his control, 
ed by a general convulsion. A large part of the domini 
he held a spiritual sceptre, revolted; and, notwithstand 
efforts, made by the emperor of Germany, and his coa 
destruction of the protestant cause, were finally rese 
thraldom, and established in the full possession of religion 
The kingdom of the Beast was, at this time, full of darknéss. 
hierarchy had always been distinguished for the attribute, wh 
style cunning; and, it must be confessed, exercised it in a degre 
which there has been no parallel. But at this time their councils were 
weak and contemptible: weak, as they were wavering and contradie 
tory; contemptible, as they displayed that main tye alee and false- 
hood, which forms the lowest trait of despieableness in the human char- 
acter. His kingdom, also, was full of darkness in another sense. It 
was filled with sore mortification. The hierarehy, im all its branel 
saw its power greatly, and finally, lessened; not a small part o 
wealth irrecoverably diverted into other channels; and a body of n 
raised up in the heart of Christendom, whose number, weight, and 
ents were formidable to all its interests, and threatened even its 
tence. ‘That these men blasphemed the God of heaven because of 
pains and their sores ; i. e. because of their extreme mortifications 5 
cannot doubt: and we know, that they repented not of their deeds. 
the early part of his career, Luther would have been satisfied 
Reformation, in those things merely, which were gross and mon 
such was his reverence for the system at large. But they had s 
rolled these, as sweet morsels, under their t s, that they 
consent to give them up. The most heretical doctrine, eve 
by any reformer, in the view of the Romish church, was the 
to receive truth: the most heretical practice, ever adopted, w. 
nunciation of sin. 
The account of the sixth vial is given im these terms :— 
sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates ; € 
water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might 
be prepared. And Isaw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of 
the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the 
mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working mi- 
racles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the w ‘ld, 
to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. old, 
I come as athief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his an "me 
on.”? 


5 


lest he walle naked, and they see his shame. And he gat 
gether into a place, called in the Hebrew tongue, A 
This angel, we are told, poured out his vial upon the great rive 

Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the ~ 
kings of the East might be prepared. The Euphrates, in the literal 
sense, was the source of the wealth, strength, and safety, of the literal 
Babylon. It ran round the walls, and through the centre, of that citys — 
and by Cyrus and Cyaxares, the literal kings of the East who destro 
ed Babylon, was dried up in these parts of its channel, by being turned 
into a lake higher up the country. The symbolical Babylon, or The 
Babylon of the Apocalypse, is the Romish spiritual empire. ‘ 


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7 


symbolical Euphrates, here mentioned, is a source of wealth, strength, 
and safety, to that empire. To dry up this Euphrates, is to diminish, 
or destroy, that source of wealth, strength, and safety. The symbolical 
kings of the East, are those, whoever they may be, who shall destroy 
this spiritual Babylon. Several commentators have supposed this 
language to denote certain princes, who are to come from the East: 
making the phrase literal. This zigzag course between literal and 
symbolical language has, as it appears to me, had no other influence, 
than merely to perplex propheey, and to render obscure what was 
otherwise plain. The kings of the East mean, here, nothing but the 
destroyers of the spiritual Babylon. Had the names Cyrus and Cy- 
axares, or Cyrus and Darius, been set down, instead of the kings of 
the East, as they might have been with strict propriety, because 
literally these are the very persons intended; then we might with 
as strict propriety have expected Cyrus and Darius to be raised 
from the dacits in order to destroy the spiritual Babylon, as we may 
now expect kings, or any other persons, to come fram the East for this 
purpose. When this source, or these sources, of the wealth, strength, 
and safety, were dried up, or perhaps while they were drying up; in 
other words, when sufficient preparation was made; the prophet saw 
three unclean spirits, of an extraordinary character, appear, and act, 
as important agents in this sre work of providence. ‘These spirits 
had the following remarkable characteristics. They came out of the 
mouth of the dragon ; that is, the secular persecuting power of this 
spiritual empire ; and out of the mouth of the beast, or ecelesiastical 
persecuting power of the same empire; and out of the mouth of the 
false prophet, a primary agent of this latter power; exercising all the 
power of the first beast before him, and causing the earth (the dominions 
of the Roman empire,) and them, who dwell therein, to worship the first 
beast, whose deadly wound was healed. ‘This prophet might with ease, 
and almost with absolute certainty, be shown to be the body of monks, 
or regular clergy, of the Romish church. But the time will not allow 
me to expatiate on this part of the subject. They were the spirits of 
demons ; malignant, subtle; hostile to human happiness, and human 
virtue ; and enemies to God and the Lamb. In other words, they 
were bitter and violent enemies to Christianity. They were like frogs: 
bases grovelling; loquacious; intrusive; clamorous: to be found in 
every place; and pertinacious in their modes of action. ‘They wrought 
miracles ; or did things which were wonderful and astonishing. The 
great objects of these spirits is to deceive the kings of the earth, and of 
the whole world. ‘The end for which they are permitted to do this, is, 
that the kings of the earth, i. e. the powers and potentates of the Ro- 
man empire, and many others, together with them, may be assembled 
to the batile of the great day of God Almighty. The number three is 
a definite for an indefinite number; and is probably used because these 
unclean spirits were derived from three sources; the three great pow- 
ers of the Romish empire. i Pans 

The amount, then, of this part of the propheey, summarily express- 
ed, is the following: ‘that while providence shall be employed in 
reducing the wealth, strength, and safety, of the Romish empire, a 
- eollection of men, of demon-like character, polluted and debased, cla- 
morous and intrusive, impudent and obstinate, and possessing a fiend- 
like hostility to the Christian religion, will spring up in the heart of 


8 _ 


its dominions ; and particularly among the prinees and oh ne 


seeular and regular ecclesiasties; whe will co 
great business of deceiving the potentates of th 
empire; and others, also, in various parts of the y 5 
otentates may be assembled in a vast war, in which the ) 
God will be wonderfully executed upon the pee Vit 
tants of the countries, included within its limits; ed, 
a day of such retribution, “the battle of that great da 
mighty.”’ To this account is subjoined, “ And he | the 
a place, called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon ; or the mow 
Megiddo ; or the mountain of the Gospel.* The mountain of Mi 
very naturally denotes the mountain of sorrow or mourning: 
Megiddo was the place, where Josiah was slain; of whom it is 
“ And like unto him there was no king before him, who turned to 
Lord with all his heart, and with all kis soul, and with all his it, 
according to all the law of Moses ; neither after him arose there any li 
him.” After his death it is said, “ All Judah and Jerusalem wept fo 
Josiah ; and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah ; and all the singing: mei 
and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations, to this day 
and made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold they are wi 
in the Lamentations.” This mourning, so extensive, so deep, s 
and so regularly continued, furnishes a most expressive image 
intense and unlimited sorrows, which will flow from the war i 
tion. As denoting the mountain of the Gospel, Arm on may be 
considered as pointing out the place where this war will be carried on; 
viz. the countries, in which the Gospel has been preached ; or, in oth 
words, what is commonly called Christendom. Probably it was in- 
tended to have this double reference, and to express both the plac 
the circumstances of this extraordinary conflict. Our Saviour ad 
a parenthesis, “ Behold, I come as a thief ; blessed is he that wat 
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his si 
The declaration at the beginning of this verse is a solemn annum 
of the Redeemer to his followers, that, when these preparatic 
made for the final destruction of the spiritual Babylon, he wi 1e 
suddenly, and unexpectedly ; as a thief comes in the night; to destroy” 
this grand human enemy of his church. As the times will be times of 
terrible convulsion; he affectionately warns his sineere disciples te 
take the most cautious heed, to watch over themselves, that they may 
not be exposed to the censures of malignant men here, nor furnish 
ground for regret, either in this world, or that to come. F "3 
When all this shall have been done, the seventh vial will he pour- 
ed out; of which we have the following account. 
“ And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; an 
came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, sayi 
Itis done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; a 
there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon 
earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city 
divided into three parts ; and the cities of the nations fe ii: and sg 
iobgow came ie? remembrance before God, to give He her the 
the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled 
the ae were not Fen ‘And there fell upon me wee 


* See Calmet, Cruden, &c, 


) 


"hedven ; every stone about the *veight of a talent: and men blas: 
phemed God, because of the plague of the hail ; for the plague thereof 
was exceeding xreat.”® 

_ Of this prophecy there are four parts. The great voice out of the 
temple of heaven, saying, “ It is done ;” i. e. the kingdom of Babylon, 
or the spiritual Romish empire, is terminated; or, perhaps more ap- 
propriately, the work of destroying this empire is finished. The 
second is, the general convulsion of the world, attendant upon this mighty 
event represented by the voices, the thunders, the lightning’s, the earth- 
quale, the falling of the cities of the nations, the fleeing away of the 
islands, the vanishing of the mountains, and the plague oj nile The 
third is, the effect of these convulsions upon Babylon itse!f. The great 
city was divided into three parts: and great Babylon came in remem- 
brance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of 
his wrath. ‘The fourth is, the effect of these judgments upon sinful men: 
And they blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail: for the 
plague thereof was exceeding great. 

The declaration, “ It is done,’ intends, I apprehend, either that 
this is the last of the judgments of God upon the Romish empire ; cr 
that the work of destruetion is, (to use the language of Doddridge,) 
just now completing. In scriptural language, that is often said to have 
taken place, which is yet in progress ; and even that which is still future. 

The great convulsion, here described, is exhibited as affecting the 
earth, and the atmosphere.. This description, like other parts of the 
Apocalypse, is symbolical; and denotes a convulsion among the em- 
pires of this world, resembling in its violence the terrible agitation of 
the elements, which is here announced.“ The nations” are those, who 
experience the shaking of the earthquake. The convulsion is of 
kingdoms, princes, nobles, and the\ people, over whom they preside ; 
such an one as will agitate and distress the world of menin the same 
manner, as if all the elements were in the confusion mentioned in the 
prophecy. 

It is not necessary to explain the third of these parts of the cir¥ 
Rome. Whether Rome may be thus affected, or not; or whether it be 
peculiarly and immediately affected at all, or not; the prophecy may 
be fulfilled with equal exactness. In the following chapter, where 
this subject is resumed in a different form, the angel interpreter informs 
us, that the woman, who sat upon the scarlet coloured beast, and who had 
upon her forehead her name written, “ mrstERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, 
the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth ; was the great city, 
which at that time reigned over the kings of the earth. Unquestionably, 
this city was Rome: but it was not, as Rome, Ll apprehend ; not as a 
city, having in itself, (in the political system, power, agency, and in- 
fluence, of its inhabitants ;) this abominable control over mankind ; that 
this name is given to it. It was because Rome was the seat of the 
hierarchy ; the centre of its power; the fountain of its corruptions ; 
the spot, whence proceeded the delusions, impieties, and iniquities, 
which depraved the whole Christian world. If then, the city, in this 
sense, is divided and distracted, thé prediction is answered. The parts 
into which'it is exhibited, as thus divided, are here said to be three : 
a definite number for an indefinite: the real meaning heing expressed 
by the English word several. arr 
- The fourth part needs no comment. 

2 


40 


‘Having finished the remarks which I thought it necessary to make 


upon these passages of Scripture by way of explanation, I will sid 
sent Reni ( . 


proceed to give the reasons, why 1 suppose the present 
under the two last of these vials: and these are all m ed ui 
general one, that. the facts, which have taken place during the last 120 
years, particularly during the last 80, and still more es ly d 
the last 60, have been an exact, and wonderful accomplishment o: 
predictions, which they contain. Many of these I have stated, - 
‘cularly, ou another oceasion. At these I shall only glance ; Be al 
proceed to others, which were not then specified. te 2 
The first public appearance of Deism was about the middle of the 
16th century: when several persons in Italy, and Franee, assumed the 
title of Deists, as an express distinction of themselves from Christians, 
They are mentioned by the celebrated Viret, an eminent Reformer, as 
treating the Seriptures as a collection of fables, and laughing at all 
religion. Several men of this class appeared in England, also, about 
the latter part of the same century. But neither in Great Britain, 
nor on the continent, did they make any considerable impression upon 
public opinion. In the year 1624, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, ‘ih 


of considerable talents and learning, published his book concerning tr 
at Paris. It was afterwards published in England, together with 
others. A fourth was added to them after his death. In these he 
attempted to reduce Deism to a system. From this time writers of 
this class multiplied, both in Great Britain and on the continent of 
Europe. In sucha world as this, it was impossible that they should 
not find adherents. ‘ ad 
About the year 1728, the great eera of infidelity, Voltaire formed 
a set design to destroy the Christian religion. Fer this purpose he 
engaged, at several sueceeding periods, a number of men, distinguished 
for power, talents, reputation, and influence ; all deadly enemies to the 
Gospel; Atheists; men of profligate principles, and profligate live 
This design he pursued with unabated zeal 50 years ; and was second- 
ed by his associates, with an ardour and industry, scarcely inferior to 
his own. In consequence of their united labours, and of the labours of f 
others, from time to time combined with them, they ultimately spre 
the design throughout a great part of Europe ; an embarked in it in- — 
dividuals, at little distances, cver almost the whole of that continent.— 
Their adherents inserted themselves into every. place, office, and em- 
ployment, ia which their agency might beceme eflieacious, and which 
furnished an opportunity ef spreading their corruptions. They were 
found in every literary institution from the Abecedarian school to the 
Academy of sciences; and in every civil office, from that of the bailiff 
to that of the monarch. They swarmed in the palace; they haunte 
the chureh. Wherever mischief could be done, the were found: : 
wherever they were found, mischief was extensively done. Of bo 


they controlled the publication, the sale, and the character. An. 
mense number they formed ; an immense number they forged Sree 
to them the names of reputable writers, and sent them into the we 
to he sold fora song; and, when that could not be done, fo be given 
away. Within a period, shorter than eould have been imagined, they 
possessed themselves, to a great extent, of a control, nearly absolute, of 
the literary, religious, and political state of Europe. . —. _, 
With these advantages in their hands, it sill easily be believed. 


? 
"eae. 


44 


that they left no instrument unemployed, and no measure untried, to ac- 
complish their own malignant purposes. With a diligence, courage, 
constancy, activity, and perseverance, which might rival the efforts of 
demons themselves, they penetrated into every corner of human society. 
Seareely a man, woman, or child, was left unassailed, wherever there 
was a single hope, that the attack might be successful. Books were 
written and published, in innumerable multitudes, ‘in which infidelity 
* was brought down to the level of peasants, and even of children; and 
poured with immense assiduity into the cottage and the school. Others 
ef a superior kind, crept into the shop, and the farm-house ; and others, 
of a still higher class, found their way to the drawing-room, the uni- 
versity, and the palace. The business of all men, who were of any 
importance, and the education of the children of all such men, was, as 
far as possible, engrossed, or at least influenced, by these banditti of 
the moral world; and the hearts of those, who had no importance, but 
im their numbers, and physical strength. A sensnal, profligate nobility, 
and princes, if nossible, still more sensual and profligate, easily yielded 
themselves and their children, into the hands of these minions of eor- 
ruption. ‘Too ignorant, too eneérvated, or too indolent, to understand, 
or eyen to inquire that they might understand the tendency of all these 
efforts, they marched quietly on to the gulf of ruin, which was already 
opened to receive them. With these was combined a priesthood, which, 
in all its dignified ranks, was still more putrid; and which eagerly 
yielded up the surplice and the lawn, the desk and the altar, to destroy 
that Bible, which they had vowed to defend, as well as to preach; and 
to renew the crucifixion of that Redeemer, whom they had sworn to 
worship. By these agents, and these efforts, the plague was spread 
with a rapidity, and to an extent, which astonished heaven and earth: - 
and life went out, not in solitary cases, but by an universal extinction: 

While these measures were thus going on with a suecess searcely 
interrupted, Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of the Canon Law in the 
university of Ingoldstadt, a city of Bavaria, a man of no contemptible 
talents, but of immense turpitude, and a Jesuit, established the society 
of Mluminees. Into this establishment he brought all the systematized 
iniquity of his brotherhood ; distinguished"beyond every other class of 
men for cunning, mischief, an absolute destitution of conscience, an ab- 
solute disregard of all the interests of man, and a torpid insensibility to 
moral obligation. No fraternity, for so long a time, or to so great an 
extent, united within its pale such a mass of talents; or employed in 
its service such a succession of vigorous efforts. The serpentine sys~ 
tem of this order Weishaupt perfectly understood. The great design 
of the Jesuits had always heen to engross the power and influence of 
Kurope, and to regulate all its important affairs. The system of mea- 
sures, which they had adopted for this end, was superior to every pre- 
ceding scheme of human policy. To this design Weishaupt, who was 
more absolutely an Atheist than Voltaire, and as cordially wished for 
the ruin of Christianity, superadded a general intention of destroying 
the moral character of man.’ The system of policy, adopted by the 
Jesuits, was, therefore, exactly fitted to his purpose: for the design, 
with this superaddition, was exactly the same. th 

With these advantageous preparations, he boldly undertook. this 
work of destruction; and laid the axe at the root of all moral princi- 
ple, and the sense of all moral obligation, by establishing a few funda- 


12 


mental doctrines, which were amply sufficient Se dijaparenes- ‘ 
were, that God is nothing; that government isa eurse, and author 
an usurpation ; that civil society 1s the only a: 
possession of property is robbery; that chastity 
are mere prejudices; and that adultery, a Nap hs. 
other crimes of a similar nature are law e 
large branch of the Masonic Societies in Germany a 
already adopted the same objects, as the great 
all their personal and united labours. Here seereey f ed t 
advantageous opportunities for the formation of every design, and the 
most advantageous contrivance for its successful execution. sieve ithe 
spirit of hostility against religion and government was kindlec 
blown up inte a flame. Here, in a w ord, all that vice eould wish 
profligacy attempt, was proposed, matured, and set forward fo u- 
tion. Under these pr poe ween em the societies of Ilu- 
minism. They spread, of course, with a ra’ % which nothing at: 
fact could have on any sober mind to ioe eee d Before the year 
4786, they were established in great numbers isc Eee my 
Sweden, Russia, Poland, Austria, Holland, France, 
England, Scotland, and even in America. In all these was 
grand and sweeping principle of corruption, that the End sanctions the 
Means; a principle, which, if every where adopted, would a 
the universe. 

The design of the founder and his eoadjutors was nothing 
to engross the empire of the world, and te place mankind oe the 
feet of himself, and his successors. 

Voltaire died in the year following the establishment of Fileoligliena, 
His disciples with one heart, and one voice, united in its interests; 
and, finding a more absolute system of corruption than themselves had 


been able to form, entered eagerly into all its plans and | ses. 
Theneeforward, therefore, all the legions of infidelity are i- 
dered as Ponhiailoed i inasingle bottom; and as eruisin ine rail st 
order, peace, and virtue, on a voyage ‘of rapine and bloo ee a 


The French revolution burst upon mankind at this moment. 
was opened an ample field for the labours of these abandoned 1 
the work of pollution and death. There is no small reason to believes 
that every individual illuminee, and almost, if nat every i 
on the continent of Hurope, lent his labours, when he could 5 and his 
wishes, when he could not; for the advancement of the sins and the 
miseries, which attended this unexampled corruption. Had not God 
taken the wise in their own craftiness, and caused the wicked to 
into the pit which they digged, and into the snares which their hands 
had set; it is impossible 1 to conjecture the extent to which they — 
have carried their devastation of human happiness. But, li 
profligate rulers of Israel, those who suceeeded, regularly. destroyed 
their predecessors. The whole history of their rise, administration, 
and fall is sufficiently exhibited in the following verses. “ In the 
twenty and sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Elah, the son 
Baasha, to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. nd his 
Zimri, (captain of half his chariots,) conspired against him, as he ‘was 
in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his 
house in Tirzah. And Zimri went in, and smote him, and killed him, 


‘43 


in the twenty and seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in 
his stead. In the twenty and seventh year of sa, king “of Judah, did 
Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah ; and the people were encamped 
against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.—And the people 
that were encamped, heard say, * Zimri hath conspired, and hath atso 
slain the king.’ Wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the 
host, king over Israel, that day in the camp—And Omri went up from 
Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah, And it 
came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into 
the palace of the keing’s house, and burned the king’s house over him with 
five, and died, for his sins, which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of 
the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he 
did to make Israel to sin.” 

The spirit of infidelity has the heart of a wolf, the fangs of a. tyger, 
aud the talons of a vulture. Blood is its proper nourishment: and it 
scents its prey with the nerves of a hound, and cowers over a field of 
death on the sooty pinions of a fiend. Unlike all other animals of 
prey, it feeds upon its own kind; and, when glutted with the blood of 
others, turns back upon those, who have been its eoadjutors, and who, 
if either its disposition, or its measures, could.admit of friendship, 
would have been its friends.\—Between 90 and 100 of those, who were 
leaders in this mighty work of destruction, fell by the hand of violence. 
Enemies to all men, they were of course enemies to each other. 
Butchers of the human race, they soon whetted the knife for each 
other’s throats: and the tremendous Being, who rules the universe, 
whose existence they had denied in a solemn act of as whose 
perfections they had made the butt of publie scorn and private insult, 
whose Son they had crucified afresh, and whose Word they had burnt 
by the hands of the common hangman; swept them all by the hand of 
violence into an untimely grave. The tale made every ear, which 
heard it, tingle, and every heart chill with horror. It was, in the 
language of Ossian, “ the song of death.” It was like the reign of the 
plague in.a populous city. Knell tolled upon knell; hearse followed 
hearse ; and. coffin rumbled after coffin; without a mourner to shed a 
tear upon the corpse, or a solitary attendant to mark the place of the 
grave. From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to an- 
other, the world went forth and looked after the carcasses of the men, 
Fs, noel against God; and they were an abhorring unto all 

sh. 


a4 


py ee ee Mi a 
ox i ‘ares ek) 
PART IL. , KM, ae 
' a ms 
Libros © ~ 


IN the former part of this discourse I observed, that the present 
period is exhibited in prophecy by the two last of the seven vials, m 
tioned in the Apocalypse. This prophecy, together with that contain- 
ed in the account of the fifth vial, 1 reeited; and in a brief comment 
endeavoured to explain. I then proceeded to examine a part of the 
history of Christendom, whicl: I considered as the proper fulfilment of 
the prediction. I will now proceed with the detail; and mention sey- 
eral other facts, included in the same history, and constituting other 
parts of the fulfilment of the same Siem a 

The miseries, brought upon the French nation by the Infidels, who 
were the agents in its ae mee government, soon became intolerabled 
The whole system was formed of a fiend-like oppression; and the em- 

ire was filled with alarm, and blood, and wo. The period of their 
doleisintion becasae more and more dreadful; and a considerable part . * 
of it was denominated the “reign of terror;” the first time, it is believ- 
ed, in which this phraseology came into proverbial use. France be- 
came a kind of suburb to the world of perdition. Surrounding nations 
were lost in amazement, when they beheld the seene. It seemed a 
lude to the funeral of this great world; a stall of death; a den, mto 
which the feet of thousands daily entered; but none were seen to re- 
turn. In this situation despair compelled those, who still had influence, 
energy, and contrivance, to fly from the ravages of the existing govern- 
ment to that last political refuge from human misery, a military des- 
potism; heretofore regarded by mankind as the consummation of ruin. 
Still it was a real refuge from the horrors of the former system; hor- 
rors, which no nation ever before suffered, and which no imagination 
had ever anticipated. The scheme of oppression was now settled; and 
the miseries to be suffered came on, like the course of the seasons, in a 
regular, expected crder. ‘Taxes reaching every fruit of human lab 
and all the property, which taxes can reach, wrung blood from eve 
vein of the miserable inhabitants. A train of spies, immense in their 
numbers, and stationed every where, prowled in every road and street, 
in every city and solitude, and haunted the church, the fire-side, and the 
closet; carrying fear, suspense, distrust, and anguish, to every heart. -'The 
young men were yoked together like cattle; and driven to the eamp, to 
waste away with disease, toil, and suffering; or to fall, with less ago- 
ny, upon the edge of the sword. The female sex sunk gradually from 
the high level, to which the Gospel had raised them, towards the mis- 
erable degradation, to which they have been depressed by Mohamme- 
dans and savages; and lost all their influence, and probably all their 
disposition, to cheek the vices, refine the manners, and amend the hearts 
of men. The irreligion of the preceding peviod was varied, only in its 
forms and appearances; in substance it wes the same. The goddess 
of Reason was not now worshipped, as before, in the form of a polluted 
woman. The sacramental vessels were not now mounted upon an ass, 
and paraded through the streets, to insult him, who died, that man 
might live. The Bible was not made the fuel of a bon-fire. The Sab- 
bath might now be observed without treason against the government. 


15 


But the churchers were empty. The ministers were butts and beggars, 
The Sabbath was a day of sport. Several booksellers, employed by the 
Commissioners of the London Missionary Society to furnish them with 
a Bible, searched the city of Paris three days, before they could find one. 
Religion was dead; and her remains lay in the street of the great city, 
which spiritually is called, Sodom and Egypt.’ The kingdom became a 
charnel-house of Atheism: where the final knell had been tolled at the 
departure of life, and hope, and salvation. 

From the ‘commencement of this revolution, the miseries, which 
spread in so terrible a manner through the French kingdom, extended 
themselves over all the surrounding country. The property of the 
prince, the nobles, and the clergy, the rovolutionary leaders seized with- 
out remorse, or conscience, as their lawful prey. More than4 200,000,000 
sterling are supposed to have fallen into their hands by one vast act of 
confiscation. ‘his immense sum was, however, insufficient to satisfy 
their rapacity. Under the names of contributions, war-taxes, and other 
claims, professedly claims of the nation, they gathered the riches of the 
whole people as a nest, and as one gathereth eggs that are left ; and there 
was none, that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. With this 
singular mass of wealth in their possession, they raised armies, in differ- 
ent years amounting to 5, 7,9, and 42 hundred thousand men: the 
strongest and most formidable body, which was ever assembled upon this 
globe. This incomprehensible multitude they emptied out upon every 
neighbouring state. The lava did not run in a stream, as in the erup- 
tions of the natural world. It flowed down all the sides of the immeas- 
nrable crater ut once: and like an ocean, rolled its waves of fire over 
the whole face of the world, within its reach. Nothing withstood its 
power. The life, liberty, and property, of every bordering nation, was 
consumed ; and a boundless scene of desolation every where marked its 
course. The power and pride of Spain were broken down. Italy was 
overrun. ‘The king of Sardinia was driven from his country. Swit- 
zerland, Belgium, Batavia, Germany, Prussia, and Austria, bowed suc- 
cessively to the French arms; and were undone. Every republic on 
the eastern side of the Atlantic was blotted out from under heaven; and 
every kingdom also, which policy, or the convenience of the conquerors, 
did not compel them to leave dependent. It made no difference wheth- 
er the nation was a friend, or a foe ;, was, in alliance with them, or at 
war. Whatever was thought convenient for France was done; and done 
in defiance of every law of God or man; of the most solemn treaties, 
of the most absolute promises. 

At the very commencement of their career, the legislature made 
three great public promises ; for which they pledged their faith to the 
world. One was, * that France would make no conquests.” Another 
was, “that she would make war only upon tyrants.” The third was, 
“ that she would give liberty and equality io all people, withersoever her 
armies came.”’ _ With the first of these promises in her mouth, she began 
the work of conquest at her entrance into the field of conflict ; and has 
done. nothing but conquer, or attempt to conquer, to the present hour. 
While she was resounding the second over the face of whole earth, she 
swept away, with the besom of destruction, the republics of Lucca, Pisa, 
and Venice; the thirteen republics, of Switzerland; the republics, in 
alliance with the Switzers; that of the Seven Isles; that of St. Marino; 
all the free cities of Germany; and the republies of Genoa, Geneva, 


od 
16 


and the Netherlands. One only remains on the face ofthe earth; a1 

that, merely because the giant was unable to wade throu: e billows 

of the Atlantic. ~~ . SIRE on 
‘The work of destruction is still going on; and with no 


than heretofore. Nor is there any reason to believe, that ter- 
minate, until the means of accomplishing it shall fail; or unti kind 
cease to resist; or until the world is desolated; or until God shall con- 
sume in his wrath these enemies of earth and heaven. = = 


Such is a summary account of this astonishing series ¢ 
parallel to which cannot be found in the annals of time. I 
proceed to examine the great parts of this tragedy, for the purpose of 
illustrating the principal pomt proposed; their connexion with 
remarkable prophecies. For this purpose I observe, allies ti 
4. That the infidels, in question, sprang up in the very place, 

pointed out by the prophecy. “en 
They came out of the mouth of the dragon ; the secular perseeuting 
power, combined with the Romish hierarchy, and were composed to a 
sreat extent of the nobles, the gentry, and the literati, of the Roman 
Catholie countries ; particularly of the two principal ones, France and 

Germany. : : eater 
They came out of the mouth of the beast, or ecclesiastical perseeuting 
power. To a great extent they were composed of the seeular clergy, 
which, with the pontiff at their head, peculiarly constituted the hierar- 
chy. A great multitude of these, particularly of the higher orders, 
were embarked in this design; and were among the most efficacious 
instruments of carrying it into exeeution. Few Bae nah = 9 the 
system such important service, as Briennes, archbishop of Thoulouse. 
They came out of the mouth of the false prophet, or the beast, tchich 
had two horns, like a lamb ; which exercised all the power of the first 
beast before him. The resular elergy have, from an Hr or pos- 
i to; parti- 


sessed, and exercised, the persecuting power, here refe 
eularly that terrible branch of it, named the Inquisition. The 
were, early, infidels in great numbers; and contributed not a little 
their writings to unhinge the minds of men with respect to religious 
doctrines, and moral practice—Weishaupt completed what his prede- 
cessors had begun ree advanced. | . 
But it is sufficient for my ‘purpose, that they sprang-out of the coun- 
tries under the control of the hierarchy. A Ree 
2. They were spirits of demons. ° 
This is not enly abundantly, but wonderfully, evident in the diabo- 
lieal nature of their great design; the destruction of Christianity, and 
the subjugation of mankind. Equally evident was it in the means, 
which they employed for the accomplishment of their purpose. These 
were the publication of an endless number of falsehoods ; lying, without 
limits; perjury; treachery; treason; murder; robbery; oppression. 
At the same time they were blasphemous, atheistfeal, and more furi- 
ously hostile to God and religion, than any other men since the deluge. 
They were like frogs ; endlessly loquacious on this subject; a 
measurably loathsome by their debasement of mind, by their ebseenity, 
their lewdness, their abjuration of all moral Lert: ta and the peculiar 
pleasure, which they discovered at the sight, and in the perpetration, 
of sin in every form, and degree. They were intrusive im a1 


tnexampled.—Like the frogs, brought up upon the land of Exypt, they 


47 ’ 


‘went up, and came into the house of the prince, and into his bed-chamber, 
and upon his bed, and into the houses of his servants, upon his people, into 
heir ovens, and into their kneading troughs ; and, after they had per- 
ished, the ill savour, which they left behind them, was not less offensive 
or overwhelming. There was not a situation, not an office, not a 
place, where mischief could be done, but it was oceupied by them. 
‘They were eclamorous. The press groaned with their labours on all 
subjects, handled in all forms, which promised to be injurious to 
Christianity. From the magnificent Eneyclopedie down to the far- 
thing pamphlet, the hand-bill, and the song, infidelity descended in a 
lar progress, without blushing at her degradation, satisfied if she 
could a oppose God, and destroy mankind; and rejoicing in the 
means of mischief, however humble, if they were only efficacious. At 
the same time they were equally sedulous with the tongue in the legis- 
lature, at the levee, in le see es in the private circle of friends 
and neighbours, and even in the tavern club. ~% 
3. They have wrought miracles: that is, have done things of a marvel- 
lous nature. 

For proof of this position I refer to the history, which I have given; 
and shall only add, that the world has been in a state of unceasing 
astonishment, ever since their designs, and their efforts, were fairly 
opened to the view of mankind. p 

4. They have gone forth to the kings of the earth, and the whole world, 
to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 

The earth, in the language of this book, usually denotes the Roman 
empire. It has been the favourite labour of these men to insert them- 
selves into the cabinets of princes, and peculiarly into those offices, 
which were the seats of business, the sources of all the great moye- 
ments of empire, of all great national exertions. Here, into the very 
cabinets, the very households, of monarchs, they have silently crept ; 
and wound themselves around their hearts with a motion so lubricous, 
So soft, so insensible, that neither their snaky character, nor even their 
approach, was pereeived. Here they have charmed their miserable 
vietims to destruction, and.stung them to death. 

The battle of that great day of God Almighty does not, I apprehend, 
denote a single battle; but a war, or series of wars, commenced and 
carried on in succession for the same purpose: just as the word king 
denotes, in the language of the same prophecy, that succession of kings, 
-which rule over a given kingdom during its continuance. This battle 
has been erroneously supposed to be the same with that, mentioned, 
Zech. xiy. 3, 4, 5, and 44, and has been supposed to be a single battle, 
fought in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, after the return of the Ji ews 
to their own land. But nothing can, I apprehend, be more erroneous 
than this construction. The prophecy has not eyen a remote reference 
to the Jews, nor to their country. Its scene is the Romish empires 
and its object is, first, the hierarchy, and secondly, the people governed 
by it. The name, Armageddon, or the mountain of Megiddo, mistak- 
enly supposed to indicate, that Judea is the scene of this battle, and 
the only expression in the prophecy, which can be supposed even re- 
motely:to countenance this construction, indicates the contrary. Asa 
symbolieal expression, it very naturally denotes the mountain of mourn- 
iug,as was specified above; because several afflicting events had taken 
place at Megiddo; particularly.the death of Josiah; for whom a singular 

3 , Ain 


48 


public mourning was instituted with great rome 1 
faite an a in Israel. In consehunall of this event, 
markable publie sorrow, was, among the Jews, proverbially 
with the mourning of Megiddo. Of this a strong instanee is furr 
by the prophet Zechariah ; when he compares the pre-er 
of the Jews, after their final return to their own land, fe 
erucifying Christ, to the mourning instituted for Josiah. — 
mourn for him, says the prophet, as one mourneth for his only so 
shall be in bitterness for him, as one is in bitterness for his or" 
that day there shall be a great gr rn Jerusalem, as 
Hadad Rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. Beste ky a? + 

But the word also means ‘ the mountain of the Gospel,” and in this 
sense denotes a place, or places, where the Gospel has been customari- 
ly preached ; a meaning, which, as you well know, excludes every re- 
ference to Judea. “ml - 2 : 3 

As a literal expression, Armageddon ean have no meaning. Me- 
giddo was a city re a plain, or flat valley, at the foot of ‘Mount Garmel. 
There is, therefore, no such place as the mountain Megiddo. — 

The great day of God Almighty denotes here, very obvio » a day 
of vengeance ; a day, in which God will singularly manifest himself ; 
in which his agency will be distinctly seen, and reyerentially acknowl- 
edged. It is expressly styled a day of war; im which the war is.his 
own, and in which the vengeance will be inflicted openly on his enemies. 
Accordingly, although these malignant, deceitful spirits, go forth to the 
kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of 
this great day, it is yet said, that God himself gathered them A ween 
place, called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. It is, therefore, a dis- 

ensation of his own, in which these profligate deceivers are, unwitting- 
y, instruments of aceomplishing his wrath against those wicked na- 
tions, for whom it has been treasured up. ne 

Let us now revert to the history. The European war, which began 
in the year 1792, has no parallel in the history of man, sinee the del- 
uge; whether we regard the number of nations engaged in it, the num 
ber of armies in the field, the number of battles, the multitude of the 
slain, the destruction of cities, the depopulation of countries, or the im- 
mense ruin and devastation, brought upon the world. s 

For a long time it was almost a continued sueeession of battles ; 
generally fought with great obstinacy, and prodigious slaughter. Gen- 

’ eral Danican, a French officer, declares, that three millions of French- 
men perished within the first four or five years of the Revolution. Of the 
inhabitants of La Vendee only, a single province of Franee, 700,060 fell 
by the hand of violence. From the elose of that period to the present 
time, thirteen or fourteen years, the number destroyed ean seareely be 
much less. In the two great battles of Prussian Eylau and Aspern, 
they lost, within a small number, 100,000. In Spain and Portugal, they 
ure supposed to have lost 300,000. But the strongest proof of the vast 
extent of the ruin, so far as France herself is cones ana in this 
great fact; that, notwithstanding the annual conseription, amounting to 
a prodigious number, the French armies are sensibly diminished; and 
the emperor has, for a series of years, been compelled to constitute his 
forces, in a great degree, of other nations. At the same time he has 
anticipated, in several instances, both the period of conseription, and the 
conscription itself. Nothing could prove with more certainty the im- 


49 


measurable waste of human life in this mighty and populots realm. 
Accordingly, travellers regularly inform us, that the fields of France 
are cultivated chiefly by women and old men. 

If such has been the devastation of man in the kingdom of France ; 
we cannot but be assured, that the destruction must have borne a me- 
lancholy proportion to it in many other countries. The soldiers of 
Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Batavia, Belgium, Spain, and 
Poland, have fought in her armies; and shared in the common slaugh- 
ter. All these countries have, also, together with Prussia, Russia, and 
Turkey, been invaded by her: some of them several times. Their in- 
habitants have, through a series of campaigns, fought against her ar- 
mies; and the countries themselves have, to a great extent, been wasted 
and destroyed. In Germany only, it has been computed, between 1 and 
2,000,000 of mankind perished by famine, in consequence of a single 
French invasion. Spain and Portugal have not improbably lost from 
once and an half te twice the number of the French, who have fallen 
in their country. Russia and Turkey have sacrificed predigicus num- 
bers of their mhabitants in a war between themselves. Sweden also 
has suffered deeply. It will be no excessive estimate, therefore, if we 
suppose 10,000,000 of mankind to have become victims to this overflow- 
ing scourge of heaven. j a 

It is deelared in the prophecy, that these deceivers shall go forth 
to the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them together 
to this great battle. The word kings, in this passage, may, with the 
strictest propriety, be considered as denoting kingdoms. Yet it de- 
serves our particular attention, that the kings and princes of Europe, 
have, in a far greater number of instances, been personally engaged in 
this war, than in any other. The emperors of Austria, France, and 
Russia; the brothers of them all; the princes of the house of Bourbon; 
the king of Prussia, and his brother; several of the British princes ; 
two kings of Sweden; the various reigning princes of Germany, and 
Italy ; and a prodigious number of the nobility of all these countries ; 
have been personally present at these hostilities. All, also, have been 
allured, or compelled, either directly or consequentially, to this scene 
of destruction by these abandoned men. 

Nor has the dispensation stopped here. The emperor of Persia has 
been once engaged by a part of the same men to embark in their great 
design.—Tippoo Saib was seduced to his ruin by their means. Their 
emissaries have attempted to embroil the Mahrattas, and Seiks, in the 
eontest; and, as there is reason to believe, have raised up a rebellion 
in China, for the same purpose. Lately they have set on fire the Span- 
ish World, on this side of the Atlantic; and the flame, unhappily, has 
reached to our own shores. 

When, let me ask, were the kings, and kingdoms, of the whole world, 
ever before embarked in a single war? When was this great globe so 
agitated to its centre? When, since men were upon the earth, was there 
so mighty an earthquake, and so great? With what pre-eminent pro- 
priety may this be called the battle of the great day of God Almighty ? 

5. During this period, and several years which preceded it, all the 
sources, from which the Romish empire derived its wealth, strength, 
and safety, have been dried up; especially by being diverted into other 
ehannels. : 

_. All the branches of the hierarehy have in this manner been withered, 


20 


The pontiff has been broken down; forced to flee for his life; takens 
confied in a prison ; stripped of his wealth, power, and dignity; perse- 
cuted; insulted; and transformed from the mighty raler of Christen- 
dom, into a poor, dependant, beggared old man. In the 
have the ecclesiastics in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, 
been stripped of their possessions, the sacredness of their ch 
their magical influence; and efposed to the inroads of me 
force, against which they can make no resistance,—W hatever 
be the consequence of this terrible conflict; the Romish en 
ined. We may, I think, fairly consider the great voice as al 
tered out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “ It is dor 
The hierarehy is rumed.—Nothing remains of the system but: € 
and these, in the ordinary course of Providence, ean never be gath 
up. & : Se 
2 In the mean time, Christ has come to this work of j mt as a 
thief ; ina manner the most sudden, the most astonishing, the most ter- 
rible. The most sanguine mind, the merest enthusiast, could not in 
the year 1790 have dreamed, that such a revolution in the Romish em- 
pire could have been accomplished within 22 years. nit were 
6. As this great work is in substance done; the vials, if they are 
to be poured out hereafter, will have no object, on which their foree 
may be employed. Lg 


Almost all that now remains of this work, according to the lan 


of these prophecies, is the infliction of these additional judgments, whi 
they include, upon the guilty nations, inhabiting its extensive domin- 
ions. All these vials are poured out upon the hierarchy. Of 
this dominion must exist, in order to make the fulfilment of these pro- 
phecies possible. But its existence has substantially gone; and the 
remaining contents of the seventh vial, which I consider as now ia 
effusion, will be amply sufficient to finish its destruction. atts = 
This long diseussion, which I consider as essentially involved in the 
answer to the question, in the text, 1 have made as summary ae 
Thope it will be found not destitute of instruction to those who h x 
_ The next sreat division of this answer respects the state of that 
religion which has been so wonderfully assailed, and which, like the 
burning bush, has never yet been consumed. Here it is to be observed 
4. That religion has, in several parts of the Christian world, unu- 
sually prevailed. DET 
This observation is very extensively applicable to our own country, 
Sixteen years since, a revival of religion commenced in the 
ing town of Milford ; and spread throughout a considerable portion 
its inhabitants. This, so far as my knowledge extends, was the first 
instance of the same nature in New England, for many years, which was 
considerable enough to attract the public attention. About the year 
4752, a powerful prevalence of vital piety, which had existed fori20r 
45 years, and during which converts had been wonderfully multiplied, —~ 
both here and in many other countries, appeared so far to decline, that 
the accessions, gained by the church, were in a great measure single, 
and searcely observed.—In the year 1755, the last Canadian war broke 
out; and continued eight years. In 1764, that which followed the 
peace of Paris, our political disputes with Great Britain began; and 
the turmoil, which they occasioned, increased almost regul tihit 
terminated in the Revolutionary war. This began im 1775, @ eons 
ve 4 


7 
iemae 
y 


at. 


tinued till 4783. The next 5 years the inhabitants 6f the United States 
were im continual agitation concerning their government. At length, 
in 4788, the present Constitution, having been adopted, the present sys- 
tem commenced its operations ; and in a good degree restored order, 
and stability, to the public affairs of our country. The great princi- 
ples, upon which we were to act as a nation, were, however, to be 
settled ; and the minds of men were to a _ extent engrossed by 
them; partly on account of their novelty, and partly on aceount of their 
importanee. Way is not less ruinous to the morals of a community, 
than to property and life. The effects of both the wars, which have 
been mentioned, were in this respect eminently malignant. Peculiarly 
is this true of the last. It unhinged the principles, the morality, and 
the religion, of this country, more than could have been done by a 
peace of 40 years. The political disputes, which followed it, had also 
a very unfavourable aspect on the moral interests of the nation. The 
minds of men were engrossed by them; and their hearts drawn away 
from their religion, and their God. The eomparative importance of 
polities was swollen beyond all bounds: and it seemed as if men had 
forgotten, in many instances, that they were not to live here forever, or 
that there was beyond the grave a world either of happiness or misery. 
At the elose of this bustling period, however, Religion began to come in 
for some share of human attention; and God, in his boundless merey, was 
pleased to remember those with compassion, who to a great extent had 
forgotten him. The flame, once kindled, soon spread through a con- 
siderable part of the land. Infidelity began to stop her mouth, and 
licentiousness to exhibit a blush, to which she had been long a stranger. 
Christians awaked; ministers were invigorated; the house of God was 
extensively filled ; and the ways of Zion, in a great measure, ceased to 
mourn, because few came to her solemn feasts. In New England, and 
in seyeral other countries on this side of the Atlantic, times of refresh- 
ing came from the presence of the Lord. 

From the date abovementioned to the present hour, the blessing has 
never been withdrawn. In two remarkable instanees it has visited this 
Seminary, in which about 120 of the youths, who had come to it for 
edueation, entered the church of Christ; almost all of whom, there is 
good reason to believe, are now vessels of honour and usefulness, in his 
house. ‘The same work is still going on prosperously im several parts 
of the county of Litchfield, in this state, and in several others of Mas- 
saehusetts and New Hampshire. It is also extending itself elsewhere, 
particularly in the state of New York. 

’ What has been so happily begun, here, has been extensively real- 
ized, also, in Great Britain. The friends of religion, in that island, 
exult in a very important change m their moral circumstances; and, 
while they mention many things to be lamented, congratulate them- 
selves, and the public, on many other things, as solid foundations of 
rejoicing. The enemies, also, of vital piety, complain of this fact in 
the same direct manner; and the evidence derived from hoth, is deei- 
sive. ‘The change, there, is widely extended; and is continually 
spreading to a still greater, and greater extent. The best hopes may, 

erefore, be entertained coneernig it, by all who love the Gospel. 

In the year 1792, was formed in England, a Society styled the Bap- 
‘tist Missionary Society; and in the year 1795, another Society of the 

game nature, comprismg Christians of various denominations, and 


22 


s 
styled the London Missionary Society ; both intended for the purpose 
of Christianizing the heathen. Soon after, sevetsiiiadiintetwre form- 
ed also; particularly the Edinburgh Missionary Society, and the 
Society for Missions to Africa and the East. In this h le train 
our own country soon followed; and raised up a numerous succession 
of Peweety Societies, for the purpose of supplying the wants 
t 


brethren in the new settlements, and Christianizing the Indians on our 
borders. To these have been lately added a considerable number of 
societies, established for the purpose of sending Missjonaries to foreign 
countries; and this number is continually increasing. a oat, 

In the year 1804, a society was formed in London, for the purpose 
of sending the Bible, in the different languages of mankind, mto the 
countries where those languages are spoken, named the British and 


Foreign Bible Society. To this have been added auxiliary societies in’ 
many parts of Great Britain, in Ireland, and in several countries of 
Europe: and seventeen such societies have been formed in the Ameri- 
ean states. One also has risen up at Caleutta. SEN TE rn 
The exertions, made by these Missionary and Bible Societies, form 
a new era in the history of Christianity. It will be remembered, that 
four years before the first distinguished revival of religion commenced 
in this state, the first of these Missionary Societies was formed; and, 
eight years afterwards, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the pa- 
rent of all the rest. Within these twenty years, more has been 
to spread the Gospel among those, who did not enjoy its blessings, than 
has probably been done in the two preceding centuries; more, un! 
we are to except the times of the Reformation, than has been done 
since the early ages of Christianity. Missions have been formed in 
the isles of the Southern Ocean, in New Holland, in China, in the Bir- 
man empire; in the island of Ceylon, in many parts of Hindostan, in 
Tartary, in many parts of Africa, on the southern continent of Amer- 
ica, in the West Indies, in Nova Scotia, Canada, the country of the 
Labrador, and Greenland. Almost all these have met with some 
suecess, and several of them with much. The prospeet of success, 
also, which was at first faint and doubtful, has been shining more and 
more, as there is reason to hope, unto the perfect day. ?. 
Bibles, also, and Testaments have been distributed already _— 
numbers, and in sueh a variety of languages, as almost exeeeds belli 
What is remarkable, many Roman Catholie ministers have readily 
permitted the free use of the Bible to the people under their eH 
and, what is still more remarkable, one Bible Society has been form 
among Catholics. gal 
In the mean time, the Scriptures have been translated, —_. 
tially or wholly, into 19 Asiatic languages. Inte four of them, the 
whole Bible; into eight more the whole New Testament; and a part 
of the Old, and the whole New Testament into two more. In ten of 
these languages, the New Testament is either in the press, or has been 
‘printed. In one of them, the whole Bible, and three editions of the 
ew Testament; in another two editions of the Gospel; and im several 
others, parts of the Old ‘Testament—In this manner, the Seriptures 
have been actually sent in their various languages to every nation in 
Europe, except the Turks ; and, if I mistake not, a translation of them 
into the Turkish language is in good forwardness. They have also 
been distributed into various parts of Asia, Africa, and of both North 


23 


and South America. The liberality, zeal, and activity, with which 
all this has been accomplished, has been wonderful; and, what per- 

is no less wonderful, it has been regularly increasing to the pre- 
sent hour. St. Paul directed the Thessalonians to pray, that the word 
of the Lord might have free course and be glorified ; or, as it is in the 
original, might run, and be glorified ; evenas it was among themselves. 
The good men, who are now living, who have so often prayed for this 
blessing, behold their prayers answered ina manner new, singular, 
most delightful to themselves, and most glorious to their Creator. Wow 
he sendeth forth his commandment upon earth ; his word runneth very 
swiftly ; to the amazement of the most sanguine, and to the unuttera- 
ble joy of the virtuous. Now, also, many run to and fro, according te 
the promise, made to Daniel; and knowledge is wondertully increased ; 
and many are purified and made white. 

' These things Christianity has accomplished, or rather God has 
accomplished them for her, in this day of darkness and gloominess, of 
clouds and thick darkness. 

Nor ought any zeatchman to forget, on such an occasion as the pres- 
ent, the mighty change in human affairs, accomplished by the final ter- 
mination of that disgrace to the name of man, that insult to Heaven, 
the African slave-trade. This is a glorious proof, that God has not for- 
gotten to be gracious to the present generation of mankind. Accord- 
ingly, he has at the very time, when this vast reformation was accom- 
plished, and in that very nation, by which it was first carried into final 
‘execution, discovered the means, in the Jennerian innoculation, of pre- 
serving, annually the lives of 2,000,000 of mankind. 

Such is a summary view of the brighter parts of this immensely in- 
teresting seene. Let us now see, whether we may not derive from it 
some profitable instruction to ourselves. We have many thingsto fear, 
and some, I trust, to hope. 

There are three extensive reasons, why we should fear. The first 
of these is, the general aspect of prophecy, and of the times. If I] am 
right in my exposition of these prophecies, the terrible judgments, which 
the last of them denounces, are not yet finished ; and the language, in 
which these are conveyed, is sufficiently alarming to shake the stoutest 
heart. Such exactly is the state of things at the present moment. The 
war, the slaughter, the devastation, the terror, the bondage, the wo, are, 
to the human eye, far from their termination. With ys, the war is 
merely begun. What will be the future career of these evils, no eye, but 
the Omniscient, can foresee. No men are so hood-winked, so kindred 
to the mole, as those, who confidently believe, that they foresee them. 
Of such men I ask, “IVho hath known the mind of the Lord? Who 
hath been his counsellor ? Who, beside His Spirit, can search the de 
things of God?” Itis enough for us to know, that when every island shall 
flee away, the cities of the nations fall, the mountains cease to be found, 
and the great hail come down upon men out of heaven, the period will be 
sufficiently distressing to overwhelm with terror, distress, and amaze- 
ment, all the bold, impious wretches, who every where say to them- 
selves, “Peace,” when there is no peace. Who can tell what even a day 
may bring forth ? “the beginning of strife,” says Solomon, “ is as when 
one letteth out water.” The, breach, small at first, often becomes a vast _ 
a and the little stream, which trickeled through it, swells into a 

eluge. 


24 


The second of these reasons is, the sinful character o ee ol 
Notwithstanding the prevalence of religion, which I have described, the 
irreligion and the wickedness of our land are sueh, to furnish 


a most painful and melancholy prospect toa serious mind. 
ed our Constitution without any acknowledgment of Gods vithou' 
recognition of his mereies to us, as a people, of his government, o 
of his existence. The Convention, by which it was formed, ney 
ed, even once, his direction, or his blessing upon their labours. 
‘we commenced our national existence under the present system, 
God. I wish I could say, that a disposition to render the reve 
rence, due to his great name, and the gratitude, demanded by 
merable mercies, had been more publie, visible, pry tray te 

At the same time I have no hesitation to say, that the. ess, 
with which public offices are hunted for, and the saerifiees of prin- 
ciple and conscience, which, as we have but too much reason to believe, 
are made, in order to acquire them, constitute a great and dreadful sin; 
and are a deep brand upon the moral character of our country. Let it 
not be here supposed, that I intend in this, or in any other observation, 
to refer, even remotely, to any particular party, or political 
which now exists, or has heretofore existed. I stand im the presence of 
God; I speak in his name. While, therefore, I shall not shun to de- 
clare his counsel, I intend not to dishonour Hr, ner to trifle, a away 
this solemn season, im reciting the feelings of spleen, and the 
imputations, sneers, and obloquy, of party-spirit. Our whole | 
ness lies with our sins, and the judgments of God. Let me ge 
who hear me, not to spend this es in secretly quarrelling with hy a 
neighbours, or their government. ‘Let me warn every one to mo 
his ~~ sins, and those of his country; and to tremble at the mighty hand 

0 

_ This very party-spirit itself, this hostility between eitizens of the 
same country, between neighbour and neighbour, friend and friend, nay, 
often between brother and brother, father and son; is a great and 
dreadful evil; a smoke in the nostrils of Jenovau 3 an abomination, 
which he cannot away with. Think how many unkind thoughts, Pad 
many slanders, how many malignant threatenings, haye been yented | 
this disposition against persons of an opposite party ; not one of whie 
in a great proportion of instanees, would perhaps haye been though 
of, had the objects of them been of our own. this ps we 
less, and worse, than publicans and sinners. 

The eagerness, with which wealth is coveted, and so 
countrymen, is another deplorable proof of that love | the 
which is utterly inconsistent with the love of God. a cee 

How often is that qlorints, and fearful name, JEHovAH ou 
profaned in our streets! , 

To what a terrible extent has the bratal sin of drunkenness Po 
through our land! To such an extent, that most, if not all, of those 
ecclesiastical bodies, which preside over extensive divisions of the 
Christian church in this country, have thought it neeessary to enter 
into a course of publie, solemn measures, for the purpose of insti- 
tuting a general and efficacious resistance to its progress. 

Falsehood, also, in all its various forms, is, unless I am deceived, 
a more widely extended and dreadfully pernicious evil, than any of 
those, which 1 have mentioned. Think of the character to which cus- 


25 


tom-hoiise oaths are reduced. Think of the tenour of oaths of office: 
and then examine the tenour of the conduct, which, in some instan- 
ees, actually follows them. ; 

_ At the same time, how widely have our elections, in a multitude of 
eases, veered from the tenour of our national and state Constitutions 3 
from our original professions ; from all that is free and unbiassed ; and 
— the A a obligation, assumed in the oath of these who 
elect ! : 

- How often is the eye pained, and the soul wounded to the quick, 
by the dismal recitals of fashionable murder; perpetrated in defiance 
of all laws of God and man; and yet left 4 ener by the very gov- 
ernment, which is thus insulted to its face P Remember, that God hath 
said, The land cannot be cleansed of the blood, which is shed therein, but 
by the blood of him that shed it. 3 ; 

To close this painful catalogue, already long, and unhappily eapa- 
ble of heing made much longer, I observe, that more than 2,000,000, I 
am afraid I might say, more than 3,000,000 of our countrymen, there is 
too much reason to believe, have, and long have had, no regular, stated 
worship of God, and are without any settled ministers of the Gospel, 
any churches, and of course without any religion. “Shall I not avenge 
for these things,” saith Jenovan, “shall not my soul be avenged on such - 
a nation as this?”’ “Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: 
og had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness, as the waves of 

sea !”? 

The third of these reasons is found in our peculiar cireumstances. 

4. A great part of our countrymen believe the war, in which we are 
engaged, to be unnecessary and unjust. 

This is true of many members of the national legislature ; of a great 
multitude of members, belonging to the state legislatures ; and of a vast 
multitude of the inhabitants, embodied in both of the great political par- 
ties. Itis not my province to determine whether this opinion is just, 
or unjust. That a war should exist, and yet such an opinion prevail 
so extensively, cannot but be unhappy. On the part of all, by whom 
it is received, it cannot but embarrass their consciences, their conduct, 
and even their prayers. That the nation, with whom we are at war, 
has done us repeated injuries, is admitted on all hands. Still the 
questions recur, and are to be answered; whether our own hands are 
elean; whether we have used all the measures to preserve peace, which 
are demanded of a Christian nation ; and whether the war promises to 
us any real good, sufficiently important to compensate for the loss of 
life, property, and comfort, which it must necessarily involve; for the 
innumerable sins, which it will oceasion; and for the varied and mani- 
fold evils, which it will produce. When we think how great must be 
that loss, and how many those sins and miseries; the subject becomes 
solemn, painful, and melancholy, to a sober man, in a degree which it 
will be difficult to assign. 

2. We have begun this war, almost without any preparation. 

In ancient times it was determined by very high authority to be 
wise for him, who was about to build a tower, or going to make war; 
to sit down first and count the eost, whether he had sufficient te 
finish the undertaking. 

3. Our enemy is so situated, as to be able seriously to distress us, 
with little expense, inconvenience, or exposure. 

4 


26 


Our extensive coast is lined, in a great measure, with 
villages ; including a great part of our wealth, and not a small o 
of our population. Most of these may be imvaded, dest: aa 
with little difficulty. A vast mass of our property is eithe1 
on the ocean, or lying in the harbours of other nations. The 
sure of this property, and of the unfortunate men, destined to convey 
it homeward, need not be specified. oy? Ge 

Our northern frontier extends not far from 2000 miles. A eon- 
siderable part of it is settled, and every where exposed to the inroads 
of the enemy. A great part of the western frontier is left naked to 
the incursions of the savages, with whom, unhappily, we are on the 
worst of terms. ane 

The British are said to have 40,000 black troops, and the Span- 
iards, with whom also we are contending, 5000 more, in the West 
Indian islands. ‘These men have long been formed into military regi- 
ments, and inured to a striet military diseipline. Should they he land- 
ed in East Florida; it would be impossible to  parebe 078 
ees. He, who remembers the state, extent, and feelings, of our | 
population, and calls to mind, that God is just, will leok at this object 
with a pained eye, and an aching heart. nie 

4. There is not a little reason to fear, that we may by this war 
be brought into an alliance with France. ae 

The Jews often betook themselves in their troubles to the sur- 
rounding nations for help; to Syria, to Egypt, and to Assyria. The 
language of God on this subject is regularly, “ Wo to them that go 
“down to Egypt for help, to strengthen themselves in the strength of 
“ Pharaoh, and to trust m the shadow of Egypt.—When the Lord shall 
* stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is 
“ holpen shall fall down, and they shall all fail together.” _ 

Egypt and Assyria were the chief enemies of God, and his chureh, 
in ancient times. In modern times, the chief enemy of both has been 
the Romish empire. Almost all the reasons, whieh forbade the Jews 
to unite with Egypt and Assyria, forbid us to unite with this empire. 
Some exist, and operate, in a still higher degree: and some ean he 


alleged in our ease, which could not be urged in theirs. eaking of . 


the people of Canaan, God says to the Israelites, “ Thou shalt make 
“no covenant with them:” And again, “ Take heed to thyself, lest 
“thou make a covenant with the people of the land, whither thou goest, 
“ lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.” Ofthe kingdom of Israel, 
Hosea said, “ Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east 
“wind. He daily inereaseth lies, and desolation; and they de make 
“a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt :” i. e. 
precious ointments, destined as a present to purchase the friendship of 
Pharaoh. The alliances, here spoken of, were to the Israelites means 
of their ruin. In the like manner, speaking of the-present times, and 
of the spiritual Babylon or Romish empire, St. John says, “ And 
“1 heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my peo- 
“ ple, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of 
“her plagues: for her sins have reached unto heaven; and God hath 
“remembered her iniquities.” This solemn injunction every Christian 
will regard with the deepest concern, and obey with the most scrupu- 
lous exactness. . 

The state of facts is, however, sueh, that the command, important 


“ 
ve 
é 
a 


a7. 


would hardly seem necessary: France is the chief division of 
this empire ; and their king has long since been named the eldest son 
he church. At the present time, France is, in a sense, almost the 
rhole of this empire. Every protestant nation, which has disobeyed 
is command, and allied itself to this antichristian power, has re- 
| ceived of her plagues; and extensively partaken, also, of her sins. 
This, Seetiearh , has been the crime, and the ruin, of Geneva, Switz- 
erland, Holland, Prussia, and the protestant states in Germany. Rea- 
son, therefore, and experience, as well as Revelatiop, write our duty 
with sun-beams. 

On this subject my feelings are inexpressible. To ally America, 
to France, is to chain living health and beauty, to a corpse dissolving 
with the plague. The evils, which we have already suffered from 
this impure and monstrous connexion, are terrible omens of the de- 
struction, which we are to expect from a connexion still more intimate. 
The horrors of war, compared with it, are mere amusement. ‘The 
touch of France is pollution. Her embrace is death. 

The end of all these observations is to warn, to rebuke, and to 
reclaim; to persuade to repentance, and to effectuate reformation. 
* At what instant,” saith God, “I shall speak concerning a nation, 
“to pluck up, aud to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation turn 
“ from their evil, I will repent of the evil, which I thought to do unte 
“them.” The way of safety is, therefore, “a high-way ; and wayfar- 
ing men, though fools, need not err therein.” Repentance and refor- 
mation will certainly make us safe, prosperous, and happy.—Our 
great duty, as taught im the text, is to inquire concerning our sin 
Pe danger, to return to God, and come back to the obedience of his 
will. ‘ 

Can youwant motives to compel you to this duty? Turn your 
eyes to Europe. Where are the republics, which once flourished there, 
in freedom, virtue, and happiness ? Their pomp is brought down to the 
grave, and the noise of their viols. The worm is spread under them, 
and the worms cover them. Where are her kingdoms; which once, 
like the cedars of Lebanon, exalted themselves above all the trees of the 
field ; and under their shadow dwelt great nations. Their boughs are 
blasted and withered. The strangers, the terrible of the nations, have 
cut them off ; and the people of the earth are gone down from their shad- 
ow ; and the earth has shaken at the sound of their fall. Upon their 
ruins the fowls of heaven remain ; and the beasts of the field upon their 
branches. Where are her cities? They have been searched with can- 
dles: their goods have become a booty, and their houses a desolation. 
Where are her prinees and nobles? Behold, the Lord a hosts hath 
taken away the mighty man, the man of war, the judve and the prophet, 
the prudent and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, 
and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. 
Their kings have gone into captivity: their priests, and their princes 
together. They have called their nobles to the kingdom ; but none were 
there ; and their princes have become nothing. Wook at her fields: 
they are whitened with human bones, and drenched in. human blood. 

The day, in which our lot is fallen, is a day of wrath ; a day of 
trouble and distress ; a day of wasting and desolation. It is the day of 
the Lord’s vengeance ; the year of recompenses for the controversies of 
Zion. The earth is utterly broken down ; the earth is clean dissolved ; 


\ 

Dal earth ts moved enceedingly. For betta, Jenova 
piace, 0 punish the inhabitants for their iniquity ; to 3 
high ones, which are on high, and the . 
earth. For his indignation is upon all nations, 
all their armies. He is visibly pleading against them with 
and with blood, with an overflowing rain, and great hailstones 
brimstone. — | 
What, in this terrible day, is to become of us? Shall we trust in 

the multitude of chariots and of horses? Shall we c in Egypt 
Shall we lean upon Assyria? Or shall we turn to 


to anger, of great biutnens and ipk Ft him er the evil. Shen we 
not say of JEnovan, “ He is our refuge and our fortress ; our Fi 
in him will we trust?” Surely he will deliver us pi snare ¢ 
the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. Then may we say to ou 
Jahd, “ Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for 
« arrow that flieth by day ; nor for the pestilence that walketh indark-_ 
“ness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day. ‘Athotinaadl 
“ shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall 
“not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou hehold, and 
© see the reward of the wie ket. Because thou hast made the 


* who is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation.” “_ ‘s 
ee a » f 
, rd 7 


Sehr. 
952.058 D9SSDA P63597 


